plus finishing touches. the final preparations under way for inauguration day. the big job left that gets under way in half an hour. welcome to "news4 today." i'm eun yang. good morning. i'm aaron gilchrist. if you got out the shovel and maybe salt, you can put that stuff away right now. there are a lot of people digging out. not around here. in richmond, virginia, almost 5 inches of snow fell. more than 100,000 people in central and southwestern virginia waking up without power. >> the sky overhead here is all clear, though. storm team 4 meteorologist tom kierein now with a look at your forecast. tom, good morning. >> it was a near miss. there's capitol hill under a clearing sky on this friday morning. it is turning colder. here's what it looked like yesterday afternoon right around 6:00 p.m. we had these areas in white. heavy snow just west of richmond, southwestern virginia, western north carolina, eastern tennessee. this was the area that got the heaviest snows. in fact, as the day progressed, they ended up with some places up to 14 inches of snow there. then about 2 to 6 in a band

across central and southern virginia. maybe even as far north as parts of the lower eastern shore got a dusting to an inch there. around salisbury and ocean city. but we just had that storm passing about 50 miles per hour farther south anticipated yesterday. right now it's cold. in the 30s. most of the region in the mid to upper 30s around the metro area. north and west of us beginning to get colder. dropping below freezing. hagerstown down to 29. 21 in pittsburgh. that's the source direction of our wind today coming out of the west. it will be gusting to 30 miles an hour. it will stay cold, just a slight chance of a few scattered flurries flying through between now and 8:00 a.m. we'll only reach the upper 30s by noontime and holding steady will for a couple of hours early to mid-afternoon. wind gusting to 30 miles an hour. so you need your warmest winter coat. sunrise 7:24. sunset 5:14. a look at your friday evening in ten minutes. danella with a traffic. good morning. >> good morning.

still checking on the accident. chopper 4 is above the icc right now. as you make your way -- i-95. you'll see your left lane still blocked by the accident here. only the right lane gets by. the accident is just pass lay hill road. light volume in the area. it's not going to be difficult to get by that accident. eun? danella, thanks so much. new this morning, d.c. police are looking for two people involved in this hit and run in northwest washington. a car collided with a taxi cab with the intersection of seventh and e street. that was just before 2:00 this morning. two people believed to be teens jumped out of one car and took off running. rescuers took at least two people to the hospital. they're expected to be okay. the fbi is rieg to figure out if a tip they got was a hoax about a potential plane hijacking. somebody called the honolulu office last night saying a man on a flight from hawaii to seattle was going to hijack the plane. f-15 fighter jets scrambled to

escort that flight to seattle tacoma international. as it landed, officers came aboard and took the unidentified man off the plane. some people on that plane say they didn't know anything that they -- they didn't know anything was wrong. >> no, nothing. as we got off, i noticed tsa and the policemen was at the gate. >> you didn't see anybody else? >> nothing was unusual out of the ordinary. >> officers questioned the man for hours but say they do not expect to arrest him because it's not clear if the call was legitimate or a hoax. developing story. right now u.s. forces may be on the ground in algeria working to evacuate american hostages. reuters reports that just a short time ago, a u.s. plane landed near the bp natural gas plant where dozens taken hostage this week. those arrested yesterday were sent on a charter flight to london late last night. the fate of dozens more is

unclear. the a.p. reports that six were killed when al syria attempted the mission. governor martin o'malley will outline safety priorities for the legislative session. he will elaborate on his proposals for gun safety and violence prevention. earlier had week, he said he would propose a ban on milita military -- o'malley said his plan will address mental health and school safety. >> school safety task force in virginia will now review a controversial proposal to have guns in schools. a legislative committee called for school boards to authorize one person in every school to carry a concealed weapon on school property. supporters say keeping schools as gun-free zones makes children easy targets. >> people concealed hand guns is perfect. somebody comes into the school. they don't mow who to attack first. who has the guns? who could pop up like a jack-in-the-box and blow away the shooter?

he doesn't mow. >> those against the bill say firearms and small children are a dangerous combination. the school safety task force is expected to make recommendations before the virginia general assembly next month. a new survey shows most americans want tougher laws. according to a new nbc wall street journal poll, 56% favor more restrictions on guns. 7% say current laws are too strict. and 35% prefer to keep laws the way they are now. the poll shows that 41% of all households have a gun and the numbers also show a sharp political divide. 55% of republicans say they have guns compared to 27% of democrats. you probably won't be standing on grass if you're on the national mall for monday's inauguration. crews are putting down a plastic cover to protect the lawn from inauguration-goers. there is equipment stacked up there. crews will start working in just about 25 minutes at 6:30.

you see the stacks to the side. the park service spent $16 million replacing the grass on the mall. the plastic sheets will prevent people from trampling the turf there like the crowd did during the president's first inauguration. we will help you get inauguration day started the right way. begins at 4:00 a.m. on monday. eun and i will be live from capitol hill to preview the day's events for you. you can check out our inauguration guide at nbcwashington.com. get you ready for that day. >> wear warm shoes. >> i'll try. >> you should wear warm shoes too. 38 degrees at 6:06. the major city talking about banning energy drinks. the hollywood superstar taking on the role of yoe paterno. your weather and traffic on the 1s. next, not just the organizers getting ready for monday. why wireless companies spent four years preparing for inauguration day. as we head into inauguration

weekend, did you know, this is the seventh time the [ male announcer ] now at your neighborhood subway: the big hot pastrami melt. we've perfected the pastrami sandwich -- filled with juicy pastrami, pickles, yellow mustard and melted cheese. all piled-high on freshly baked bread. taste one at your local subway today! subway. eat fresh.

you can tweet and text away during monday's maag ratiinaugu the biggest cell phone carriers are taking steps to make sure you don't lose service. they've installed cell towers near the parade route and added amplifiers to existing antennas. more than 130 million americans now have smartphones according to the wireless association. just 41 million people had smartphones in 2009. don't tweet and text so you miss what's going on in front of you, though. >> ideally that would be good advice. >> come up for air. >> it's 2013, come on.

>> all right. 6:11. time for weather and traffic on the 1s. meteorologist tom kierein here with the forecast. hi tom. good morning. here is what our storm team 4 satellite radar looked like. this was six hours ago past midnight. still in the northern neck of virginia and the lower part of the eastern shore all the way as far north as ocean city. quickly exited and mochd on out. cloud cover has broken up a bit. we've had scattered flurries out of the north and west. much colder air is surging in. down below freezing now. washington county, panhandle of west virginia, northern central shenandoah valley. points west. around the metro area in the low 30s to upper 30s. we'll stay in the 30s through the rest of the day. gusting to 30 miles per hour later this morning. we've got gusts over 20. so wear your warmest winter gear this morning. the winds diminish tonight o. if you're going out, near 30 at

midnight. a look at traffic with danella. >> there's an update on the crash along the icc eastbound. this is heading towards i-95. tow truck arriving to the scene. this is a two-vehicle accident. hopefully the left lanes will be opening soon. right now, you're just getting by in the right lane. again it's really light. let's head to i-95 in maryland between the baltimore beltway and the capitol beltway. 216 connecting to the beltway, montgomery county, no issues there. 11 minutes from i-95 to i-270. aaron and eun. 6:12 is your time. 37 degrees. ahead, why the swat team rushed to tom cruise's house. >> it's not flames. why he ended up being the one who needed to be rescued. an e

new this morning, we're learning about an attack on a woman and robbery. this is a picture outside the store. investigators say on tuesday the woman walked out of the store just before 10:00 at night and a man threw her to the ground and took cash from her. if you recognize this man, call police.

also this morning, a woman stabbed in the neck on the streets of washington, d.c. after the attack, she walked to a gas station on 14th street northwest. not too far from the columbia heights metro station. the woman is now in the hospital. we're told she will be okay. police are checking surveillance cameras in the area to help identify her attacker. 6:16 now. federal investigators in japan to look at one of the boeing 787s that was forced to make an emergency landing. investigators from the faa and ntsb arrived in western japan early this morning. nearly all of the 787s in use around the world have been grounded because of safety concerns. there have been several recent incidents, including a battery fire, a wiring problem and an issue with the brake computer. boeing is proposing a series of safety measures to address the problems. sports illustrated writer admits this morning that he missed red flags when he interviewed notre dame's manti te'o about who we know is a fake girlfriend now.

there's a transcript of the interview on the website for s.i. it includes a retrospective saying there were clues that te'o's story did not add up. during the interview, te'o was not confident when he talked about meeting lennay kekua. there was no evidence of her existence on lexus nexus or stanford where she apparently went to college. there was no public statement made yesterday as scheduled. the downfall of one of college football's greatest coaches is on the way to the big screen. al pacino will star as the late penn state coach joe paterno in an upcoming biopic. it will be called happy valley based on the last two years of his life. he died of cancer a year ago, shortly after being fired over the jerry sandusky sex abuse scannel. it looks like tom cruise is the latest victim of a hoax called swatting when a false call is placed to get swat to

show up. there was a call from someone not in the home at the time but officers say there was no emergency. cruise is just the latest celebrity victim of this kind of hoax. ashton kutcher, simon cowal aco well and -- the investigation into the death of natalie wood continues with a bit of controversy this week. police say they have not been able to get ahold of robert wagner, woods husband at the time of her death. police reopened the investigation back in 2011. since then, they've interviewed 100 people but wagner has refused o speak. his lawyers say he's cooperated for 30 years and has nothing nor say. in less than two hours, the body of a poisoned lottery winner will be exhumed from a chicago cemetery. urooj kan died as he was about to get his lottery winnings. further toxicology exams led to the conclusion that the former

dry cleaner was poisoned. cyanide was found in his system. police are hoping that an autopsy produces more evidence. one chicago lawmaker wants a city wide wan on energy drinks. the sun-times, a leading city council member proposed the sweeping ban yesterday. banning drinks, including red bull, monster and 5-hour energy to people of all ages, not just children. the proposed punishment for having a banned energy drink will be as much as $500. >> yelp will bring you more than reviews. that site was partnering with cities to -- the feature will indicate how the health department grades each restaurant on a 100-point scale. before it expands to other cities. a big mystery is solved. the giant dock that washed up on the washington state shoreline came from japan. it came loose when the tsunami hit in march 2011. the government confirmed that by checking a serial number on the

dock, it is still sitting there on the shore. we know what caused this mishap earlier this month in new jersey. turns out this escalator suddenly reversed when dozens of people were on it as a result of hurricane sandy. the port authority of new york and new jersey said it sustained damage back during noflooding. a firefighter trying to rescue people if a burning building in russia. he was climbing the ladder when a huge mound of snow and ice fell off the building sending the firefighter down the ladder much the man somehow managed to hold on as his fellow firemen rushed to help him. officials say the firefighter was not hurt. >> snowstorm hid the

mid-atlantic yesterday. these are from norton, virginia, roanoke area. working to clear streets. you can see the snow piled up to the side of the roads there. still covering some streets. they got, i think, and tom will confirm this. i think they got upwards of 12 inches of snow this that part of the state. >> yeah, indeed. southwestern virginia. that was the area that got the heaviest snows. there were some locations on the north carolina border. they got 14 inches of snow there. now, as we take a look at what has been happening, this is the way it looked about 12 hours ago. 6:20 p.m. heavy snows at southwestern virginia. west and north of richmond, it was starting to change over from rain to snow. the storm track was about 50 miles farther south and anticipated as a result we had a no impact storm here in washington. we had that snow around southeastern virginia around 2 to 6 inches from richmond down south. it's cold. all the air ras in the lighter blue above freezing.

dark blue below freezing. the winds out of the north and west will keep us in the 30s throughout the day. forecast, plusry winds too. dress warmly. we'll have some sunshine. cold night tonight. sunny tomorrow, mid 40s. sunny again. clouding up late afternoon into the evening with a blustery wind. cold weather moves in from inauguration day all the way to the end of next week. maybe a snow shower inauguration day. small chance of that. i'm back in ten minutes. danella with a look at traffic. good morning. >> good morning. happy friday to you. most of the areas light volume. let's talk about where i am seeing delays. i-270. usual delays. >> eastbound at sudley road. crash blocking two of your right lanes. it moved over to the right shoulder lane. your delays are under a mile right now. but they may grow as people pass by and drive slowly to take a

look at that accident. eun and aaron, back to you. thank you, danella. remembering a woman who became an icon for her commonsense. why local parents are angry about plans for a new school. look out below. what a military plane dropped that went through the roof of this build

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call 1-800-progressive. imagine seeing a bucket falling from the sky straight through your roof. well, that is exactly what happened in san diego. a bucket fell from a military aircraft into an auto repair shop. an rv and several other vehicles were hit by pieces of that bucket and the ceiling. the military says the aircraft was based out of a marine corps station in that area. they're taking full responsibility. americans legendary advice columnist has died. funeral services were held yesterday for pauline friedman phillips. she died wednesday after a long battle with alzheimer's disease. she was known as dear abby. her column competed with the advice of ann landers written by her twin sister esther. they were on good terms by the time esther died in 2002. the column has been written by

her daughter jean for the last nine years. keeping it in the family. 6:27 just about. the virginia lawmaker would took out an ak-47 during a debate over gun control. why the fbi says it's open to making a big trade. did you ever take banned substances to enhance your cycling performance? >> yes. >> armstrong's admission. kr this morning some say he is still lying and how his charity responded to the interview. some serious cold air is

this morning a local neighborhood on edge. a teenager is shaken but thankful the scary incident that happened as we walked to the bus stop. or used blood transfusion toss enhance your cycling performance. >> wre. lance armstrong's admission. why some are not happy with a tell-all interview. welcome back to "news4 today." >> i'm eun yang. i'm aaron gilchrist. we're keeping an eye on the inauguration day. the tickets are booked. there is a big job about to get under way of the we'll tell you what that is coming up on our

newscast. >> it is 6:30. meteorologist tom kierein on the storm team 4 weather deck. in the chill with the chilly forecast. >> a blustery wind out of the northwest. it certainly feels like winter now. temperatures are just a few degrees above freezing. it feels like the 20s. the wind has been gusting to around 20, 25 miles an hour over the last couple of hours. in the wake of that winter storm that passed to our south yesterday. let look at the radar. over the last 12 hours, there was that storm. all that area in white was the heavy snow rolled across central, southern virginia. went as far north as salisbury and ocean city after midnight. we've cleared out. as much as 6 inches much of central and southern virginia. up to as much as 14 inches there in southwestern virginia into the western border there of north carolina. it was a close call. the storm just tracked about 50 miles further south than anticipated. over the last several hours, we've had the cloud cover

breaking up. drifting over the metro area now. sunshine today but cold temperatures. out of the mountains and western maryland, west virginia, shenandoah valley. we're in the low to mid-30s with the blustery wind gusting to 30 miles an hour. the rest of the morning and into afternoon hours we'll stay in the 30s throughout the day. a look at your friday evening in ten minutes. danella with a look at traffic now. >> good morning. thanks, tom. metro, vre. no delays. brunswick train 890, slight delay. i'm watching this earlier accident. you are seeing volume. but your delays are just about a mile right now. clearing soon as you continue eastbound. let's head over to the interchange as you make your way from the interchange passing robinson terminal heading towards the dulles toll road. that drive will take you 14 minutes. no incidents on the beltway, inner loop or outer loop.

your travel lanes are open. over to you. >> danella, 6:32. reaction to lance armstrong's interview is pouring in from around the world. armstrong's claim that he doped to create "a level playing field is a convenient excuse." armstrong told oprah in an exclusive interview that he used performance-enhancing drugs in not just one but all seven of the victories. for the first time he described the mounting pressure that prop up a lie protecting his reputation. >> all the fault and all the blame falls on me. behind that picture and behind that story there's momentum. whether it's fans or whether it's the media, it just gets going. i lost myself in all that. i'm sure there would be other people that can handle it, i certainly couldn't handle t i was used to controlling everything in my life. now the story is so bad and so

toxic. a lot of it is true. >> armstrong claims he stopped doping for his 2010 tour comeback in which he placed third. but the chief of the world anti-doping agency says that's a lie and armstrong is trying to avoid criminal prosecution. live strong, armstrong's cancer foundation, released a statement after the interview that reads in part, lance apologized to our staff and accepted the apology to move on and -- lance is no longer on the foundation's board. he will always be grateful to him for creating and helping to build a foundation that served millions struggling with cancer. live strong ceo doug you will man will join the "today" show for an exclusive interview, as will one of his former teammates, tyler hamilton. that's coming up at 7:00 on news 4. the search is on for a man who tried to abduct a prince george's county teenager. that girl was walking to the school bus yesterday in ft.

washington when she noticed a man staring at her from across the street. he followed her and asked for her name. he started touching himself and tried to grab her. she fought back. the girl wants others to watch their back. >> i felt kind of helpless. felt like nobody else would have to go through anything that i went through. mentally that will be in my head for a while. >> the girl was not seriously hurt. if you know anything about this attack, police wants to hear from you. a former d.c. police officer is now a convicted murderer. 40-year-old richmond phillips was found guilty of killing his mistress. 20-year-old wynetta wright and leaving their 11-month-old baby to die in a hot car in may of 2011. phillips, who was married, lured wright and their baby to the hillcrest heights rec center and killed her to avoid a paternity hearing the next day. wright's family is overjoyed by the verdict. >> i am just so happy that he

was found guilty on every count because he's a liar and a killer. >> god is good. i am so glad. i'm so glad he was owe i am so glad they found him guilty. >> it took a jury just 90 minutes to reach a verdict. phillips now faces life in prison. this morning, opening statements in the misconduct trial of anne arundel county executive leopold. he waived his right to a jury trial. he's accused of using police detail for personal and political purposes, including ferrying him to sexual encounters in parking lots. he faces up to five years in prison if convicted. instead of spending millions on a move to the suburb, the fbi wants to make a trade. the agency wants to swap the j. edgar hoover building with the property in maryland or northern virginia. they say the hoover building could make for prime retail office and residential space right on pennsylvania avenue. right now, prince george's and

fairfax counties are frontrunners to house the new headquarters. lawmakers in maryland have come up with a compromise about who is responsible for injuries from dangerous dogs. a new bill would address the impact of last year's court ruling that pit bulls are inherently dangerous. that decision made pet owners and landlords liable for dog attacks. the new law clarifies responsibility and would apply to all breeds, not just pit bulls. and it puts the responsibility on the owner to know if a pet is likely to be a present danger. landlords would only be liable if they knew or should have known that a dangerous dog was being housed on their property. 6:37 is your time. 37 degrees. on her birthday, the first lady debuts a new look. plus, for one day only, why it will be a little less expensive to catch a cab. >> the point a virginia lawmaker was trying to make when he took out an ak-47 during a debate over gun control. >> we missed the snow. how is the weekend looking? weather and traffic on the 1s ahead. next, the situation in a country

amazing video into the newsroom right now. a number of wildfires raging out of control in australia. take a look at this. this is one fire that is so hot and so strong. it turned the sky orange there. these wildfires across the southern australia killed one man and destroyed several homes. >> just incredible video there. >> awful time. unbelievable. 6:41 is our time right now. we're dealing with more cold air to start off the friday morning. >> i just was sampling that. that was a cold, sharp wind out of the north and west in the wake of that heavy snowstorm that passed south of the metro area. we're clearing out of it. venus is twinkling in the eastern sky. this is cold. these areas in lavender. parts of western pennsylvania, western maryland into eastern west virginia. closer to washington, in the 30s. in the mid-30s. upper 30s in washington.

on the eastern shore where they got that snow and farther south, it's only near freezing now. 30s throughout the day gusts to around 30 miles per hour starting in the next hour or two. we've in gusts around 20 to 25. they'll stay blustery throughout the daylight hours and then by sunset, they'll setting down. by then, we'll be down to the low 30s. if you're heading out tonight, sunset at 5:14. we'll have a lighter wind under a clear sky. but it will be near freezing for much of the evening. turning colder tomorrow morning and an arctic blast coming in next week. details on that, the latest inauguration forecast. that all coming up in ten minutes with the seven-day outlook. i'm tracking a situation in the district. northwest, if you're traveling along 14th street. this is the 3500 block of 14th street. all your lanes are blocked in both directions because of a police investigation. your ultimate routes will take

13th street or 16th street instead. let's check on i-66 eastbound. the earlier crash still in the left shoulder lane at sudley road. your delays are growing. they're at 4 miles as you continue eastbound in the area. travel lanes, though, are open. checking -- outer loop of the beltway in maryland. the 12-minute drive from i-95 to i-270. over to you. >> 6:43 is your time. the fbi is trying to figure out if a hijacking scare that sent fighter jets scrambling was all a hoax. investigators say someone called their honolulu office last night saying a man aboard a flight from hawaii to seattle was going to hijack the plane. f-15 jets out of oregon quickly caught up to the plane, escorting it to it's destination at seattle tacoma international. as soon as it landed, officers came aboard and took the unidentified man off the plane. despite all the swift action, no one knew anything was wrong. >> no, nothing.

as we got off, we noticed the policeman and tsa was at the gate. >> you didn't see anybody else? >> nothing was unusual. nothing out of the ordinary. >> officers questioned the man for hours and do not expect to arrest him. it's still unclear if the call was legitimate or a hoax. >> to the live desk now. david cameron is speaking out on the hostage crisis in algeria. lawmakers asking him questions. he says algeria is trying to secure the large and complex natural gas site taken over by militant days ago. we have video of a nearby hospital where some of the freed hostages are being treated this morning. right now, there's still confusion over how many hostages and attackers have been killed. might still be in inside and how many escaped. some got out by disguising themselves. the u.s. plane evacuated some americans this morning. they stormed the facility wednesday taking dozens of

hostages. six were killed. when they were attempted to be rescued first by helicopter and then with special forces. according to a local news agency there, the militants are promising to carry out more operations. melissa mollet, news 4. the obama team is expected to make an unprecedented announcement. the political organization that got him elected it going to become a nonprofit group. it will be called organizing for america. it will use the supported energy that got the president re-elected to further his second term agenda like gun control and immigration. obama 2012 campaign manager, jim messina will head the committee and it will be separate from the democratic national committee. hillary clinton will step down as secretary of state with a 69% approval rating according to a wall street journal nbc news poll. 25% of those surveyed disapprove of her performance as america's top diplomat. secretary clinton is widely seen as the early favorite to get the democratic mod ford president in

2016. president obama tapped senator john kerry as the next secretary of state. happening today, maryland's governor slated to propose measures to make it easier to cast a vote in maryland. according to the washington post, governor martin o'malley will push for a bill to expand early voting and also to allow maryland residents to register to vote and cast ballots on the same day. the bill faces opposition for republicans in the general assembly. the gop has long fought similar measures. they say it opens the door to voter fraud. 6:46 now. today, leaders in prince george's county will help unveil a new gun safety proposal. maryland governor martin o'malley is scheduled to outline his public safety priorities for this year's legislative session. prince george's county executive baker and mark mcgaw will join the governor for the announcement this afternoon. guns in virginia schools, sits with a safety task force. a legislative committee defers to that panel.

it will authorize one person in every school to carry a concealed weapon. the task force is expected to make its recommendations before the general assembly adjourns next month. a virginia lawmaker sparked a new dae debate over guns when he used a powerful prop to make a point. democrat joe morrissey brought an ak-47 to the chamber floor in richmond. he was trying to get the lawmakers to vote for banning sales of assault rifles. a panel ended up voting that down. other lawmakers scolded morrissey for improperly handling the weapon. 13 before the hour right now. the park service is trying to keep the national mall pretty after the inauguration. crews will soon begin covering the grass with a plastic sheet of sorts. will protect the new grass from thousands of people who will pack the mall on monday. news 4's megan mcgrath is there to explain. >> good morning, aaron. the grass on the national mall has never looked better, at least the section from third to

seventh streets. take a look at it here. it was completely overhauled recently. it took a little over a year and millions of dollars. they started from scratch, they ripped it out, regraded, receded. the work is done and it's looking terrific. they want to make sure they protect that investment. we've got hundreds of thousands of people who are expected to come down to the mall for the inauguration for the other events. they're going to be putting special plastic sheets, in fact, you can see them here. all stacked up along the side of the mall. later on this morning, work crews are going to begin putting down the special sheeting on top of the grass and especially designed so it will protect the grass against the wear and tear and trampling that is expected to get here in the next couple of days. the rainwater and light to reach the grass. the hope here is that they protect the mall at least the section of the mall that's done from the wear and tear expected o come in the coming days. unfortunately, they won't be able to put the plastic sheeting

on the mall. just the part that was redone. they're going to begin the work later on this morning. reporting live -- aaron, back to you. >> it may be a bit more affordable to take a cab for inauguration. you can share a taxi with other inauguration-goers. you'll have to -- at 17th and independence avenue in southeast d.c. that's near rfk stadium. taxis must be carrying four passengers and the ride will cost $28 total for all four people. when you're watching president obama take the oath of office. take a -- it was likely made here. fort belvoir. this is the army's institute of heraldry. they craft 40 and 60 new seals. each one is a true labor of love. each one of these seals is individually hand casted and hand-painted and hand finished

by the artist. >> they're not mass produced. >> that's correct. there's no mass production. we use essentially medieval techniques of sculpting to get to this process. >> our own pat lawson muse will show all the steps that go into making every presidential seal. tonight on news 4 at 6:00. make nbc4 your home for inauguration coverage. "news4 today" will begin at 4:00 a.m. on monday. we'll be live from capitol hill to preview the events. check out our inauguration guide on nbcwashington.com. >> 6:50 right now. the value of the most famous house in america is up. a popular website is worth 300 million bucks. seema mody live with more on that. seema, good morning. >> good morning. this is a nice house. six-story single family home on 18 acres, 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, great security and busy neighborhood. the large oval office, the real estate site zillow.com says the residence at 1600 pennsylvania

at washington. the white house were listed on the market would be valued at just about $295 million. that's up about 7% since the obamas moved in four years ago. values are up 13% over that same period. the white house and value peaked at just under $300 million in july of 2006. sounds nice. >> needed that. seema mody at cnbc. president obama and the first lady left the white house to celebrate michelle's 49th birthday in georgetown. they dined with friends. >> they'll in the something different about the first lady. the white house released this photo of mrs. obama earlier which shows her new bangs more clearly. >> it is friday so the inauguration a couple days away. doing trivia with tom. >> what else do we have? >> what was the coldest one in what was the warmest one. today's question is what was the snowiest inauguration.

was it 3 inches, 8 inches or 19 inches. a, b or c, aaron sm. >> me first. >> multiple choice. >> i'll do b, 9. >> i'll go with c. >> b is 8 inches. you're going with c. 19. >> the answer is aaron, would you like to choose what was behind door number three for the win? >> it was on the john f. kennedy's inaugural. 1961. they had 8 inches of snow that ended before the swearing in ceremony. if you remember, that was the -- that speech there when he was up on the podium and ask not what you can do for your country and it was a blustery and super cold day. it was only 22 degrees at the time of the inauguration. it's going to be a bit warmer but still cold. it looks like inauguration day 2013. probably in the mid-30s.

mostly cloudy. a chance -- a snow shower or a few flurries. as we look at what's happening, there was that storm that came through with the heavy snow, southern virginia. south of fredericksburg, generally a dusting to an inch or so. then it ramped up quickly. parts of southeastern virginia had 4 or 5 inches to 6 inches south of charlottesville. a couple of inches along the northern edge. southwestern virginia and into far western north carolina where they had 8 to 14 inches of snow that came on by us. the storm had tracked about 50 miles farther south than anticipated. we have a few clouds coming through. maybe an isolated snow flurry and temperatures are cold. it's blustery. the winds are gusting around 20 to 25 miles per hour. we'll stay in the 30s throughout the rest of the day. hour by hour, not much of a warmup. the winds gusting to 30 miles an hour midday and during the early to middle part of the afternoon. after that, the wind diminish

tonight. we'll be under a clear sky, down to the 20s by dawn on saturday. into the mid 40s. another cold morning sunday. mid and upper 40s. bit of a blustery wind and inauguration day, passing flurry. much colder after that. the colder air coming in tuesday into wednesday and thursday. i'm back in -- with frequent updates throughout the "today" show. danella with a look at traffic. >> tom, i'm still tracking police activity that's shutting all your lanes down. 14th street, northwest at otis place. again, all your lanes blocked in both directions. while police are investigating. you should take 13th street or 16th street. a live look from chopper 4 over i-66. the earlier crash eastbound at sudley. still blocking the right shoulder lane. we'll talk about delays as chopper pans out. you can see extensive delays. i know it's ahead especially on a friday when you are expecting

a clearer commute. once you pass the accident on 66 though. the lanes open up and it's not as bad. i-95 driving at posted speeds. nice and clear northbound as you make your way out of stafford to the beltway. no issues to report in either direction. eun? >> danella, thank you. 6:55 now. good news for metro riders. the agency is getting ready for a multimillion dollar project to repairman i of the system's escalators. metro is spending $151 million to repair or replace across the sis tep. it affects more than 30 stations. work should be completed by 2020. to see if a metro station near you will be affected, we have a complete list at our website. head to nbcwashington.com and search escalators. new this morning, federal investigators are in japan to look at one of the boeing 778s that was forced to make an emergency landing. faa and ntsb arrived in western japan this morning. nearly all of the 787s in use around the world have been

grounded because of safety concerns. there have been recent incidents including a battery fire, wiring problem and issue with the brake computer. boeing is proposing a series of safety measures to address the problems. bull horns, sipes and charts, a big protest outside the home of d.c. schools chancellor kaya henderson yesterday. she announced the closure of 15 schools next fall. that's why fewer than originally planned. henderson says closing the underused building will save $20 million to put back into other programs. pro esters say the savings are overstated and the closures disproportionately affected minority students. you can see if schools near you are affected. we've posted a list on the facebook page. prince george's county this morning, parents are fired up about a plan to move some students near another high school. the county is building an objection on hill high school imt near potomac high school.

school leaders say the financial crisis and high enrollment at oxon hill consider moving students. many parents blame poor planning. >> we've got do a better job allocating -- >> deserve and that we immediate. >> and that is "news4 today." thank you for starting your day with us. >> the "today" show is next. we'll be back in 25 minutes with breaking news. be sure to wake up with us monday morning. >> we'll tell you everything you heed to know to get ready for inauguration day. we'll be broadcasting live starting at 4:00 a.m. >> hope you have a great day. >> make it a great weekend everybody.